In April 1996 I went to Japan and supervised the installation of the Greenwood melting system and tank washing system. This was my first trip to Japan and I was not sure what to expect. When I arrived in Japan I had to take a taxi to the hotel. It cost $100.00 for the one-hour ride. That night I went out looking for a restaurant but could not find anything American. Most of the restaurants required cash and would not accept my credit card. The next morning I went to work and it went well. Most of the engineers in the plant spoke English. The rest of the trip I spent trying to find American style foods at night. I figured out how to use the subway system. This was much cheaper than using a taxi. But most everything was written in Japanese. I found Hard Rock cafe and ate several meals there. I located a restaurant called Cafe De Paris. I made reservations and they required that I dress formally. I went there expecting to have a really big expensive meal. The expensive part I got. They brought me the menu and the cheapest meal was $200us. I had planned to order a bottle of wine but after seeing the prices I left the wine. They brought out the meal. I got a little piece of steak and some vegetables for this price.
The third night I was there I was awaken about midnight by shaking of the building and a knock at my door. My fellow traveler Ronny whom was staying in the next room had knocked on my door. He wanted to know if I had felt the earth quake. I said I thought so but was still sleepy. He told me to turn on the TV so I did. It was like a 5.5 on the Richter scale and we were right in the center. There was not much damage because for Japan this was common. I got to thinking about survival plane but none came to mind, as Tokyo is nothing but skyscrapers. If they started tumbling down there would be no survival, so I went back to bed and went to sleep.